Being qualified on Decision means that you fully understand the answers to four key questions:

When will they make their decision? How will they make their decision? Who will make their decision? Why will they make their decision?

Let’s go over them...

WHEN will they make their decision?
Many times, the prospect has a timeline for the decision process, and will share it with you. If it’s informal, your task is to formalize them. Discuss it fully, establish intermediate goals, get it on the calendar and on paper. Get a commitment to act.

HOW they will make it?
If you think back to all the dialog in your sales interactions in developing the Interest and qualifying on money, you have uncovered much, if not all of their decision criteria. Now, it’s time to reaffirm or identify if anything new has surfaced or changed.

Whatever the process, you need to understand and confirm how its being made. Once you know, it’s easy to project where you stand in the outcome.

WHO will make it?
Who are the actual decision makers? Who are the recomenders? Who are the influencers? How are all of them influenced? Who else will be involved in the decision making process? Who will be making the final decision? Who has final authority or veto power?

The message is clear: knowing who everyone is and the role that they play, is critical to a successful outcome and eliminating endgame surprises.

WHY will they make it?
Are they struggling and need competitive advantage? Are they being proactive? Is this purchase because they want to “outdo the Jones”? Does it allow HR reductions? There are many possible reasons, and you need to know what motivates them. While most of the reasons will be based on logic, it’s the underlying emotional reasons that often cause people to choose one path of another.